ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - While Maryland public schools scored above national averages on a recent national reading assessment, the state had blocked more than half of English language learners and students with learning disabilities from taking the test.The Washington Post reports Maryland excluded 62 percent of students in the two categories from the fourth-grade reading test. The state blocked 60 percent of those students from taking the eighth-grade reading test.
Maryland's exclusion rate was more than double that of any other state on the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress. The board overseeing the test has set a goal that states exclude just 15 percent of learning-disabled and English language learners.
State Superintendent of Schools Lillian Lowery says she plans to review the state's exclusion rates and the impact on test scores.